Student from UJ reaches great heights after cycling accident
WESTDENE – A young female has mastered the art of para-cycling and says the experience of taking part in sport again has been like 'learning to fly'.
WESTDENE – A UJ student who has won the South African title at the National Road Championships in Pretoria, wants to build on that achievement.
Four years ago, Palesa Manaleng thought any chance of a career in sport was over when she suffered a cycling accident that left her paralysed from the waist down. She described how she went through a ‘roller-coaster of emotions’ when her accident happened, at the age of 27.
After her bicycle brakes failed going downhill, she crashed into the palisade fence around the UJ rugby stadium and dislocated her spine, broke two ribs, punctured a lung, fractured a shoulder and also sustained head injuries.
She recalled, “I was angry that it happened to me and I was sad that I may never play sport again, but I was also relieved that I had a second chance at life and, in the end, I came to the conclusion to live my life to the fullest and not to miss any opportunities.”
“I thought it was the end of my sporting career, mainly because I had never seen a differently abled person, besides Oscar Pistorius, compete in sports.”
She said that while she was at a rehabilitation centre for her injuries, she would watch videos of wheelchair users who took part in sport and realised it was still possible for her to compete. “Once I was discharged from the hospital, I emailed possible sports clubs looking for a team to join. I wrote to potential sponsors to help me purchase equipment. And while doing that I would wake up every morning at 6am and train up and down my street in my everyday wheelchair.”
Now 31 and studying public relations at UJ, she is the South African hand-cycling champion in the H3 category. “Looking ahead, I plan to represent South Africa at all major competitions, world cups or world championships. You name it, I plan to be there and to break records,” she said.
Manaleng practises her cycling in Muldersdrift under coach Boetie Lourens and trains at the UJ gym with trainer Dennis Dlomo. “My training is designed on a monthly basis depending on my work schedule. However, I train six times a week without fail. Some days I train once a day, others twice. It has given me a freedom that I thought I had lost when I lost my ability to walk. It is like learning to fly.”
